Auger feed injector for pneumatic conveyer



H. B. PUCKETT ETAL 3,169,799

AUGER FEED INJECTOR FOR PNEUMATIC CONVEYER Feb. 16, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 11, 1963 FIG. 2

0 TR TE ET E CU UL PK BH HH ATTORNEY 1965 H. B. PUCKETT ETAL 3,169,799

AUGER F BED INJECTOR FOR PNEUMATIC CONVEYER Filed Jan. 11,- 1963 s Sheets-Sheet 2 CHICKEN HOUSE TURKEY HOUSE 3 MACHINE SHED CONTROL CENTER AUGER FEED INJECTOR FIG. 3

INVENT OR HIB. PUCKETT H.H. KLUETER TTORNEY Feb. 16, 1965 H. B. PUCKETT ETAL 3,169,799

' AUGER' FEED INJECTOR FOR PNEUMATIC CONVEYER Filed Jan. 11, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 lllll'! INVENTOR H. B. PUCKETT H. H. KLUETER A'ITORNEY United States Patent 3,169,799 AUGER FEED INJECTOR F PNEUMATIC CONVEYER Hoyle B. Puckett and Herschel H. Klueter', Champalgn,

IlL, assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture Filed Jan. 11, 1963, Ser. No. 250,969

3 Claims. (Cl. 30250) A non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license in the invention herein described throughout the world for all purposes of the United States Government, with the power to grant sub-licenses for such purposes, is hereby granted to the Government of the United States of America.

This invention relates to a system for distributing particulate material from a source of supply to a number of distant points where it is desired to use the material. More specifically the invention relates to an apparatus for injecting feed into a pneumatic distribution system which distributes the feed to, for example, one or more poultry houses, barns, or the like on a farm.

It is one object ofvthis invention to provide an apparatus for automatically injecting feed into a distribution system. Another object is to provide such an apparatus which will inject the feed into a pneumatic distribution systernwhereby the feed will be carried through conduits in an air stream to the points where it will be utilized.

In general, the objects of the invention are accomplished by means of a hopper source of supply which is provided with one or more angers for injecting the feed into a mixing chamber from which it is conveyed by an air stream through the distribution system. 7

Ida preferred form of the invention, the feed is conveyed from the hopper by means of a horizontal auger to a vertical auger, whichin turn is connected to a mixing chamber bymeans of a't apered vertical: duct.

So that the invention may be fully understood by those skilled in the arhreference is made to the following description and to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of a preferred embodiment of the'injector assembly; p

FIGURE 2 isa side elevation section-taken on line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE-3 is aschematic illustration of a representative'sys'tem in which the present invention can be used;

FIGURE 4 is-a side elevation, with parts broken away, showing another embodiment of the invention employing only one auger, and 1 it FIGURE 5 is a rear view of the conduitof FIGURE 4, with the auger omitted. e

In general, the injector-assembly of this invention'comprises a hopper which is mounted over a horizontal auger,

extends a short distance out through front wall 2 of chamend of the horizontal auger to be in close proximity to,

the input end of vertical auger 18. The vertical auger 18, together with its housing 19, is mounted on front wall 2 of the chamber by means of flange 22 attached to horizontal section 21. At the lower end of the vertical section 20 of housing 19 there is secured a housing 23, inside of which is a bearing 24 for rotatably mounting auger 18 by means o-f its shaft extension 25. A seal 26 prevents feed (not shown) from filling housing 23. Vertical auger 18 is driven by means of motor 27, mounted on front wall 2, through pulleys 28 and 29 and belt 30.

' of duct 31 narrower-than the top, the air pressure in mixing chamber 32will tend to pack the injected feed more tightly at the lower end and provide an eifective seal against airblowing down into the auger housing 19 and back through the horizontal auger to the hopper.

Auger 18 has sufficient power tocontinuously force feed up intornixing chamber32 where the feed is picked up by the 'air s tream.

.The feed injector just described can be made part of a distributionsyste'm, as illustrated in FIGURE 3.

Thus, as shown in FIGURE 3, the injector and its control equipment .(notshown) can be installed in a-separate shed 37. The outlet tube 36 is connected to duct 38 which, in turn, is connected to duct 39 in chicken house 44 and 'to duct 40 in turkey house 45. Duct 39 can terminate in hoppers 41 and 42 disposed above feeding troughs (not shown and duct 40 can terminate in hopper 43, disposed above a feeding trough (also not shown).

A modification of the above-described injector is shown in FIGURES 4 and 5.

a duct connecting the horizontal auger with an enclosed vertical auger, a tapered duct, flaring outwardlyin an upward direction connecting the vertical" anger with a mixing chamber, means for rotating theau'gers, and means for'con'ducting a stream of air to and removing air-conveyed feed from the mixing chamber.

In particular, as shown in FIGURES l and 2, the injector comprises an open top chamber 1 having a front wall 2 and side walls 3 to form a. hopper. The inside of the hopper is provided with sloping walls 4, 5, and 6 meeting at their lower extremities to form an open-top trough 7. Rear wall 6 has a vertical portion 8 through which extends a horizontal exposed auger 9. Auger 9 is provided with a rearwardly extending shaft 10 and is mounted on wall 8 for rotation by means of bearing 11. A motor 12, mounted on chamber floor 13 outside the hopper, drives auger 9 by means of belt 14 and pulleys 15 and 16 secured to motor shaft 17 and auger shaft 10, respectively.

Auger 9 is longer than trough 7 and its output end this modification, the verticaliauger 18 is dispensed withand replaced by a curved taperedduct 46. Duct 46 may'be connected by'its smaller end to the same horizontal duct 21 shown in FIGURE 2 and mounted on front wall 2 -of,--the injector housing byrneans of flange 22.

same as that shown in FIGURES 1 and 2.- As can be seen from FIGURES Aland 5, the smaller end of duct 46 which encloses the projecting end of anger 9 is circular in cross-section and cohstitutes a cylindrical section which is coaxial and substantially coextensive with the projecting end of the auger. Because this tapered duct is narrower at the bottom, feed will pack there, as in the case of vertical housing 19, and act as a seal to prevent air from blowing back around auger 9.

Asan example of the embodiment shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, the horizontal and vertical augers can each be about 1 /8 inches outside diameter and A; inch pitch,

with a center shaft 7 inch diameter. The tapered duct 31 can be a truncated right cone 4 inches long and flaring about 7 from the axis. With feed made of ground corn, for example, satisfactory results are obtained by rotating the horizontal auger at 1550 rpm. and the vertical auger at a speed of 2200 r.p.'m. At these speeds, the injector can handle about 2060 pounds of material per hour with. V

1 inch 1.11 pipe. p V v a As described above, the vertical auger and the pneumatic conveying system-can accommodate allof the material passed-by the horizontal auger; Accordingly, the latter'acts as a limiter, and the amount of feed distributed by the system can be controlled by reguiating the speed of the horizontal auger; This can be accomplished by means of conventionally available speed reduction gears, transmissions, and the like (not shown). v

' In the'e'r'ribodiment shown in FIGURES {and 5, as already described above, the ver'ticalauger 18, together with housing 19', and vertical truncated right'conical duct 31 are replaced by the single tapered, upwardly curved duct 46. This duct, as will be apparent from FIGURE 5, is of rectangular cross section at any givenpoint. For the purpose of 'usingitwith "the specific'apparatus de-' scribed to illustrate the embodimenfof FIGURES l and 2,

the short and long radii may bef'2 7z and 5% inches} respectively, the center of the longe r j'arcbeing about inch'vertically above the center {of the shorter arc and about 'the-'samedistancebelow the center of the mixing chamber. f '7 4 Although both embodiments of'the invention have beenillustrated with reference fto apparatus having specific dimensions, it will be obvious to those skilled inthe art that these dimensions are rnerely illustrative, but notga an air speed'of 25 'cubic 'feet of air per minute thr-ough a limitation on'the-scopeoffth'e invention. Thus, it willbe apparent that the size and/or the speed of the angers,

as 'well as the amount of air and the diameter of the conveying pipes'canbe varied to handle greater or smaller quantities of material, as desired. '1 w It will further be apparent that th'e ut'ility of the apparatus is not lim'ited to' conveying of 'feed'but can be used for injecting any particulate material into "a pneumatic conveying system without departing from the spirit of'the invention. I p p Having described our inventionin detail, what we claim is as follows:

1. Apparatus for injecting particulate material into! a pneumatic distribution'system' comprising: J

(a) storage means for holdingjparticulate material to bedistributed cornprisinga hopper and ahorizontal trough at the bottom of the hopper; w -(b)- a horizontally disposed auger mounted for rotation c) a vertically disposed anger with its-lower, input end mounted adjacent theoutput end of the horizontal auger; I p

(d) a mixing chamber for mixing a stream of air with particulate material, said mixing chamberhaving air inlet means'at o'neend and air outlet means at the other end; and

(e) a vertical tapered duct connecting'the output end of the vertical auger with'th'e' mixing chamber, the

' smaller end of said duct being connected to the 'ver- 1 7 ticalauger.

p 2. Apparatus for injecting particulate material into 3 pneumatic distribution system comprising: a

. (a) storage means'for holding-particulate material to 2,067,583; 51 37, a 2,127,693 was "-McCanl'ess s sag-s0 2,2s6,407 9/;4 1 1O Brian '19864.

2,813,70 11/57 MacKissic e finec 19 864 7 "FOREIGN PATENTS" 8 15,2 51 f5' /j39 fFrance. H

be distributed comprising a hopper and a horizontal open t op' trough-at the bottom of the hopper; (b) a horizontally-disposed auger mounted for rotation in said trough, the output end of said horizontal auger extending a short distance'beyond the hopper;

(c)' a housing comprising a horizontal section and a" vertical section connected thereto, said horizontal sectionrbeing connected to the hopper and enclosing chamber, the-"smaller end of'said duct'being coin nected to the housing. a t r 3. Apparatus for injecting particulate material'into a pneumati c'distribution system consisting of: j

"(11) s toragemeans for holding particulate material to be distributed' comprisin'g a hopper and a horizontal open-top trough at tlie bottom of the hopper; (b) a horizontallydisposed auger mounted for rotation Tin saidtrough, theoutputend of the auger projecting a short distance beyond the trough; r

' (c) a mixing chamber located-above' theiou'tput end of theauger for mixing a stream of air with particulate rnaterial, saidmixing chamberhaving air-inlet means at one end an outletmeans at the other end for discharging air-borne part'iculatem'aterial; and i (d) a curved, tapered duct connecting the output end 7 ofthe auger with the mixing chambenthe smaller 7 end of the tapered duct enclosing the projecting end 7 of the auger and the largerendfof the tapered'duct f air pressure'in the inixing chamber and gravity com. bineto pack particulate m'aterial in front of the out- I put end of the auger to a density'sufiic'ient to prevent blowback ofair into the auger.

' 7 References Cited by the Examiner; UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,253,911 3/18,

S M E F-CQ M N, Prat /yaw v 1 A E NIELSE ERNEST A;

Examiners,

i being connectedto the mixing chambeh whereby the 'FALLER, 1 

1. APPARATUS FOR INJECTING PARTICULATE MATERIAL INTO A PNEUMATIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM COMPRISING: (A) STORAGE MEANS FOR HOLDING PARTICULATE MATERIAL TO BE DISTRIBUTED COMPRISING A HOPPER AND A HORIZONTAL TROUGH AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HOPPER; (B) A HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED AUGER MOUNTED FOR ROTATION IN SAID TROUGH; (C) A VERTICALLY DISPOSED AUGER WITH ITS LOWER, INPUT END MOUNTED ADJACENT THE OUTPUT END OF THE HORIZONTAL AUGER; (D) A MIXING CHAMBER FOR MIXING A STREAM OF AIR WITH PARTICULATE MATERIAL, SAID MIXING CHAMBER HAVING AIR INLET MEANS AT ONE END AND AIR OUTLET MEANS AT THE OTHER END; AND (E) A VERTICAL TAPERED DUCT CONNECTING THE OUTPUT END OF THE VERTICAL AUGER WITH THE MIXING CHAMBER, THE SMALLER END OF SAID DUCT BEING CONNECTED TO THE VERTICAL AUGER. 